Manchester achieves first Sustainable Fish Cities star
The city of Manchester has taken a major step towards being crowned a Sustainable Fish City [1] as top universities and colleges commit to switching to serving sustainable fish.
Manchester Metropolitan University, The Manchester College, and The University of Manchester have publically committed to removing endangered and unsustainably-caught fish, and serving fish which is considered ‘Fish to Eat’ or certified sustainable [2]. In recognition of their bold pledges, the city has been awarded its first star in the 5-star Sustainable Fish Cities awards system [3].
The campaign to make Manchester a Sustainable Fish City is led by local group Sustainable Fish City Manchester, and is part of a nationwide project to transform the UK’s major cities’ impact on our depleting fish stocks, by greatly reducing the demand for fish from stocks that are overfished.
The three institutions have a combined student and staff population of over 100,000, greater than the city of Chester, and serve food to students, staff, the prestigious visiting academic community, and for events, conferences and weddings.
The organisers are now calling on other institutions in Manchester to sign up, particularly schools, to ensure that Manchester’s school children are supporting a sustainable future for the oceans when they eat a school lunch. Mary Pegington, co-ordinator of the Manchester Sustainable Fish City project said “Our mission is to make it the norm to be served sustainable fish when you eat out in Manchester. Our universities and colleges have set a fantastic example that this can be done, even at this huge scale. If you can sign up on behalf of a school, workplace or hospital, please get in touch and help the city achieve Sustainable Fish City status”.
Lisa O'Loughlin, Principal of The Manchester College said “As one of the largest colleges in the UK, we have an opportunity to enable thousands of young people to gain an understanding of their responsibilities with regard to the environment and part of this is introducing them to responsible fish choices to minimise our impact on our oceans. It is not difficult to adopt a sustainable fish policy, and we are delighted to support this project.”
Cllr Rosa Battle, Executive Member for Environment, Manchester City Council said “It is hard to ignore the environmental problems faced by the world today and we all have a part to play in protecting the planet for future generations. Our actions have consequences and we must consider how our choices can affect the world of tomorrow. Supporting sustainable fishing preserves stock for the future and ensures biodiversity in our oceans. Collectively we have the power to exert real influence – which is why local schools and universities have signed up to the sustainable fish programme – I hope their example draws attention to the issue and inspires more organisations to follow their lead.”
The achievement comes as Manchester received a bronze Sustainable Food Cities award for the achievements of their food partnership.
[1] Sustainable Fish Cities is a campaign organised by an alliance of not-for-profit organisations, sustainable catering advisors and marine conservation specialists. Members of the Sustainable Fish City working group include Marine Conservation Society (MCS), the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), Pisces Responsible Fish Restaurants and Seafood Choices (a project of SeaWeb). Sustainable Fish City is coordinated by Sustain: The alliance for better food and farming
Published Tuesday 13 June 2017
Sustainable Fish: A campaign to protect precious marine environments and fishing livelihoods, and call for fish to be bought from sustainable sources. We want to show what can be done if people and organisations make a concerted effort to change their buying habits.
